Newspaper Page Text
HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL
Who is responsible for
damage caused by rock
Dear Mr. Rockefeller,
My young daughter was
injured by her third grade
classmate, who threw a rock
at her on the playground
during recess and we have
almost SIO,OOO medical bills
unpaid. Can we force some
one to help us with these
bills?
Dear Reader, I sure hope
your daughter has recov
ered; what a terrible thing to
happen to her! The answer
to your question is both easy
and complex.
The easy answer concerns
the classmate’s parents
-Yes!
In Georgia, parents are
liable for up to SIO,OOO
worth of property damage or
medical bills caused by the
“willful” acts of their minor
children. This is not auto
matic, as there are a couple
limitations on this right to
directly recover from the
parents.
First, you can only recov
er for property damage or
medical bills - you cannot
recover for emotional dis
tress or pain and suffering.
Second, you can only recov
er for “willful” (intentional
acts), as opposed to mere
negligence.
So, in this case, for inten
tionally throwing a rock
at your daughter, you can
recover, but you could not do
so for, say, your child being
accidentally hit with a bat
during a softball game.
What happens if the
medical bills are more than
SIO,OOO or you want to
recover for your child’s pain
and suffering? In that case,
you would need to look at
Parents working together
By J.H.WEIL
Raising a child is not in
the least an easy job. It is a
challenge and a gift that has
been given to you.
A number of books from A
to Z have been written to aid
parents in what to do and
not do in raising a child. In
the experience I had as an
elementary school principal
working with parents, sev
eral points stood out on the
importance for parents to
work together particularly
in the area of discipline.
Children will go to the
parent who will let them do
what they want, who will
show them the most sym
pathy or who will give them
the less punishment. If the
parents are not working
together as a team who can
blame the child for doing
so? Then one parent gets
upset because the other par
ent handled the situation in
a different way than they
would. It ends up sometimes
with the parents arguing,
hurt feelings and the non
consulted parent giving up.
“Why should I try when my
spouse countermands me
or does not follow the rules
we have determined for our
child?”
Children learn to manipu
What exactly is podiatry?
Podiatric medicine is
based on diagnosing,
treating and prevent
ing foot and ankle prob
lems.
Your
podiatrist
is very well
trained
and will
have a
bachelors
degree
program
and many
years of
podiatric
medical
school.
Dr. Jokhai
Columnist
The Foot Doctor
Podiatrist study in many
aspects of foot care and sur
gery. They also are informed
on the latest research and
new development in the
field. In treating your feet,
your podiatrist may also
the independent duties that
an adult might have owed
your child.
However, before I get to
those independent duties, I’d
like to explain why you can
not just sue the classmate.
There are a wide range of
legal rules and presump
tions con
cerning
minors.
For
instance,
a minor
may be
presumed
“incom
petent”
to testify,
which
must be
Jim Rockefeller
Columnist
overcome by the party seek
ing to have the child tes
tify. And, a minor is legally
incapable of entering into
a contract; any attempt to
enter into one with a minor
is void.
The bottom line is that
minors are viewed different
ly than adults.
This general observation
holds with bodily injury
cases. Because of their legal
status, you cannot directly
sue a minor or the parent
on the child’s behalf for
anything other than bills or
property damage. The minor
lacks the legal «status to be
sued for negligence; the par
ent can only be sued for his
or her own negligence in
failing to properly supervise
the child.
For example, if a parent
knows their child is violent
and cannot be left unsuper
vised, but the parent decides
to leave the child alone for
late - to get what they want.
Children learn to manipulate
to get what they want. Yes, I
said it twice as that is what
happens - they learn from
experience. It is not their
best interest and it teaches
them the wrong values. I
have seen children who have
learned to manipulate their
parents, children who did
not have a clear understand
ing of right from wrong, and
children who were unsettled
because there was not con
sistency in parent respons
es.
You and your spouse have
the responsibility to work
together to raise your child
from day one. It can be a
rewarding time or it can be
a time of constant strife. It
is up to you.
What can you do as par
ents? Some suggestions are
as follows.
■l. Decide what will
be the basic rules for your
child and what the conse
quences will be for not fol
lowing them. You will need
to revise them as your child
goes through one stage of
development to another.
■2. Decide on the conse
quences ahead of time. This
way your child can not go to
parent that will give them
the lesser consequence. It
work with your other health
care providers to give you
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30 minutes playing outside,
while going to the store,
the parent’s negligence in
leaving the child alone, can
result in the parent being
liable for injuries suffered
when the child goes crazy
beating on a third party.
In your daughter’s case,
clearly, the only way you
could recover for her pain
and suffering would be to
sue the school/teacher. But,
as with a parent, there must
be some fault, independent
of the child, committed by
some adult. A teacher could
be liable for watching the
child tossing rocks at the
other students and doing
nothing to stop it.
However, the school can
only be liable for having
some type of “policy” that
caused the injury; in theory,
a school policy prohibiting
teachers from supervising
children on the playground
might make the school lia
ble.
In sum, you should have
some help for the medical
bills, but probably not for
you daughter’s pain and
suffering. Fortunately, chil
dren are resilient, and your
daughter will probably soon
be running around again on
the playground!
Warner Robins attorney
Jim Rockefeller is the for
mer Chief Assistant District
Attorney for Houston County,
and a former Assistant State
Attorney in Miami. Owner
of Rockefeller Law Center,
Jim has been in private
practice since 2000. E-mail
your comments or confi
dential legal questions to
ajr(ti rockefellerlawcenter. rn,
will stop manipulation.
■3. If a new situation
arises that is not covered by
the rules as is practical dis
cuss the consequence with
your spouse before making
a decision. Don’t have the
discussion in front of your
childe especially if you feel
your spouse will disagree.
■4. Do not countermand
your spouse’s decision.
■5. Be supportive of
your spouse’s decision and
back them up in front of the
child. If you disagree you
and your spouse can have
a discussion in private, real
private.
■6. Number five above
second sentence is very
important. If your child
hears you argue or discuss
the consequences that will
give encouragement
Working together applies
in all areas of raising a child,
not just behavior. If you
work together as a team and
support each other it will
have a positive impact on
your child. It will make for a
smoother family life too.
As you work together don’t
get discouraged. Sometimes
it takes time.
It might take months to
see success but it is worth
it for your child and the
family.
appropriate and comprehen
sice care.
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F. Dennis Hooper
Certified
Leadership Development Coach
Building leaders and
organizations of excellence
(478) 988-0237
LOCAL
42475
dhu»per2!«ojuno.coiii
Dealing with ambiguity - Part 2
« 1 pealing with
1 I ambiguity” is a
leadership skill.
Rarely are the problems you
face simple and straight
forward. Further, the more
responsibility you take on,
the less certain is the path
that you and your organiza
tion should take. Yet you
are called upon to generate
clarity from confusing cir
cumstances.
There are two ways to
approach this issue. One is
a tactical focus what are
the particular actions that
might be taken in a specific
circumstance? The key is to
build tolerance for errors,
absorbing whatever criti
cism might develop over the
mistakes made. Generate
small decisions, seek feed
back instantly, correct the
course, gather more data,
and keep moving forward
until the situation seems
more manageable.
A more strategic approach
requires providing guidance
to the organization where
“right answers” are unde
fined. This is not some game
that leaders play where the
moderator comes forth and
offers a numerical grade on
how accurate you’ve been.
The survival of the organi
zation may depend on your
ability to establish criteria
where none exist.
Fortunately, Marcus
Buckingham, in his current
book The One Thing You
Need to Know about Great
Managing, Great Leading,
and Sustained Individual
Success, lays out a few nec
essary points of clarity for
us.
Who do we serve? It’s
well known that you can’t
please all of the people all
of the time. Employees who
try will be frustrated. So,
make it clear who the cli
entele are that your orga
nization uniquely seeks to
serve. The confidence of the
people who do the serving is
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at stake.
An example that
Buckingham provides is
Wal-Mart. Everything asso
ciated with the world’s larg
est retailer is designed to
serve
ind i -
viduals
“who
live pay
check
to pay
check.”
Did Wal-
Ma r t
execu
tives
conduct
exten-
sive analysis in coming
to this conclusion? Nope
founder Sam Walton
decided these are the people
he wanted his company to
serve!
What if you lead an orga
nization smaller than Wal-
Mart? Doesn’t matter. Even
if you lead a department
of five people, your depart
ment provides a product or
service of value for some
one. Define that someone
and their needs precisely
and vividly.
What is our core
strength? In his previous
book, Now, Discover Your
Strengths, Buckingham
asserts that our greatest
room for growth is in the
area of our strengths. The
concept also applies to orga
nizations. Employees want
to succeed. So what does
your organization do best?
As you lead your organiza
tion into that better vision
of the future, make sure
everyone knows where to
focus, allowing you to sur
pass the competition.
What is our core score?
When I work with clients,
I ask them to show me
graphs of the two or three
key results areas they’ve
tracked over the past five
years. Could you do that in
your organization?
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Can you then translate
that concept into having
a measurable desired out
come for each employee who
contributes to the organi
zation’s key results areas?
Does each person clearly
know what is expected of
him or her, including how
improvement will be mea
sured?
What actions can we
take today? Leaders model
proper behaviors. Ideally,
those behaviors lead to the
two or three results areas
consistently monitored for
the organization. Further,
these actions should be con
sistent with the organiza
tion’s stated values, vision,
and mission.
As leader, your job is to cre
ate an environment where
individuals are encour
aged and allowed to excel.
Clearly specifying each of
the above items engenders
confidence, creativity, and
commitment in those under
your authority.
Dennis Hooper is a lead
ership development coach,
helping leaders improve
organizational culture. E
mail him atdhooper2@juno.
com or phone him at 478-
988-0237.
Dennis Hooper
Leaders Building
Leaders
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